It now buys 48% of its power from private suppliers, at about 6.5 cents a kilowatt-hour - some 20% more than what Meralco pays its IPPs.

CNN: Up from the Ocean

The Lopezes control and run Meralco, the electricity distribution monopoly on Luzon island (other interests: the ABS-CBN broadcasting network, the country's largest, as well as toll expressways and water services).

CNN: Up from the Ocean

Meralco says it is not interested in the NPC's 230-kilovolt main transmission line, but just in the 115-kv subsidiary link to the southern Luzon provinces of Cavite and Laguna, where the country's major industries - Meralco's customers - are situated.

CNN: Up from the Ocean